Thursday, February 25, 2016

BOOK DESCRIPTION:After being abducted by a serial rapist, Rose McAllister is haunted by nightmares. Wanting a fresh start, she leaves her job in the city and moves three hundred miles away to a quaint college town. She begins to think that a normal life is possible as a budding relationship develops between her and her sexy new neighbor.Mason Sterling is fighting to move past painful memories of his own. As his attraction for Rose intensifies, the instinct to protect his heart becomes stronger. Can he overcome his trust issues enough to give their relationship a chance to grow into something beautiful? Is she worth risking another broken heart?

One of the most common reasons people give away
their cat is frustration with the cat’s refusal to use the litter box. Instead of taking the cat to the veterinarian,
they assume the cat has a behavioral problem and just get rid of it. Most of these cats are wonderful animals. They would have made great pets, if the
owners had a better understanding of the underlying problems that caused the
cat to refuse to use the litter box. So,
I thought I would share some tips in the hope of preventing a perfectly good
cat from ending up in a shelter.

Reason #1-The most common reason a cat will refuse
to use the litter box is that they have a medical issue. This is especially true if the cat has been
using the box and then suddenly stops. There
are two main underlying medical issues that will cause a cat to stop using the
litter box:

First, a bladder infection. Cats are notorious for getting bladder
infections. Their bathroom (i.e. litter
box) isn't always the cleanest place in the world.

Second, urinary crystals. These are caused by mineral deposits that
build up in the urine and then form crystals.

Both of these medical issues cause urination to
be very painful for the cat. The cat
doesn't know why it hurts to urinate.
She then blames the litter box for the pain and starts trying to go
other places. To make matters worse, she
feels like she has to urinate all the time, so she starts urinating everywhere.
That is the most common complaint from
the owner, "She just started peeing all over the house." Please, if
your cat starts doing this, take it to the vet!

Reason #2-Cats are very sensitive about where
they go to the bathroom. Think about it.
They are very vulnerable during this
time. They want to feel secure about
where they are going. A big mistake that
owners make is to stick the litter box next to something that makes a loud noise
(i.e. dryer or water heater). The cat is
just plain scared to urinate in those locations and will find somewhere they
feel safe.

Reason #3- The number of boxes, type of box, or
litter used in the box will play a big role in whether or not your cat feels
comfortable using the litter box. First,
the rule of thumb for number of boxes is one for each cat plus one. So, if you have three cats, then you should
have four boxes. This can become very
inconvenient, but if you have cats that don't particularly care for each other,
then the last thing they want is to smell each other’s scent while they use the
litter box.

The next issue is the type of box. Some cats like boxes with a lid and door to
enter and some don't. Finally, some cats
prefer sand-like litter in their box, some prefer paper, and others like
crystals. If you want your cat to use
the box, then you will have to get them the type of box they prefer and place
it in an area where they can feel secure. It's really not asking that much. In the outdoors, they can go anywhere they
choose. You are asking them to use a
particular box placed in a particular area. The least you can do is make it
comfortable for them.

Reason #4- Clean the box regularly! I can't tell you how many times I have asked
the question, "How often do you clean the box?" and have been told
something like, "Whenever it starts to smell bad." Do you like to use the bathroom in a place
that smells bad? Remember, by the time
it smells "bad" to you, it smells like something died in there to
your cat!

Monday, February 15, 2016

One of the most difficult choices a
cat owner faces is whether or not to have their cat declawed. Here are some facts to help in making that
decision:

1)
What does the surgery entail?

The claws are removed by removing
the last bone in the digit. Essentially,
that would be like removing the ends of all your fingers. So, it is not just the nail itself that is
removed. The bone has to be removed or
the claw will re-grow. Not only will the
claw re-grow, but it will re-grow in an abnormal way and cause a lot of
discomfort for the cat.

2)
How painful is the surgery?

This really depends on the age of
the cat. Young kittens who are declawed
before they are six months old usually recover within just a few days. After the first few days, they rarely show any
signs of discomfort. Cats who are declawed
over six months of age often show signs of discomfort in their paws for several
weeks. However, there are some very good
analgesics (pain medications) on the market that have significantly reduced the
amount of post-surgical pain felt by these older cats. But, if you are going to have the surgery
done, the younger the cat the better.

3)
What are some alternatives?

There are several behavioral
modification techniques that you can try if your kitten or cat is destroying
your furniture. First, cats do not like
water or loud noises. So, if you spray
them with water or blow an air horn every time you catch them scratching
something they aren't supposed to scratch, this will be a major deterrent for
them. They also tend to stay away from
citrus smells. So, you can try using
lemon or orange scents on the furniture you don't want them to scratch. Finally, they don't like the feel of plastic
or aluminum foil on their paws. So, you
can put a barrier they would have to walk across to get to their favorite
scratching area.

Next, you will need to give them an
assortment of alternative places to scratch. These need to be more attractive than the
furniture. Catnip works really well to
attract cats to the post you want them to scratch.

Unlike most dogs, cats tend to take
a toenail trims pretty well. You can use
human nail clippers to trim the cat’s nails. Dog toenail trimmers are too big and bulky for
the small cat claws. To trim a cat's
nails, press on the end of the toe and the nail pops out. Then, you can trim off the tips. By keeping the nails short, they will do
significantly less damage when your cat does scratch.

Finally, there are products that can
be glued onto your cat’s claws. I have
found these to be difficult to use. They
don't all pop off at once and so it seems to be a constant struggle to keep
them on the cat’s claws.

I recommend trying all of the above
alternatives before deciding to have your cat declawed; especially, if the cat
is an adult. However, I worked in an
animal shelter for several years, and one of the things that caused me the
biggest heartache was to see really nice cats given up for adoption because
they were destroying the furniture in the house. Many of the cats never got adopted. So, I would definitely support having your cat
declawed, if the only other alternatives are to turn her out or have her
euthanized. Most cats recover just fine
from the surgery and go on to lead happy, healthy lives.

Monday, February 8, 2016

Several intestinal
worms infest dogs. The most common
intestinal worms are roundworms, hookworms, whipworms, and tapeworms. The one most commonly seen by the owner is
the tapeworm. It looks like a small
grain of rice. The dog is not actually
passing the whole worm. It is passing an
immature worm that breaks off the mature worm.
The mature tapeworm can be several inches long and is flat.

Occasionally, if the
worm burden is high enough, the owner may also see roundworms in the stool, or
the dog may vomit up the roundworms.
These are long spaghetti-shaped worms.
However, most of the time the dog only passes the roundworm, hookworm,
or whipworm eggs, which are microscopic.
Therefore, you will not see the worms themselves.

Another common intestinal
parasite is Giardia. This is not a worm,
but is a protozoa. Dogs with Giardia
infections usually have very loose stools to runny diarrhea.

Puppies will often have
multiple infestations. It is common for
them to have roundworms, hookworms, whipworms, and Giardia all at the same
time. Therefore, it is very important to
deworm puppies. Typically, your
veterinarian will deworm your puppy at the same time he receives his
vaccinations. Dog breeders will start
deworming puppies as early as a couple of weeks of age.

Roundworms, hookworms,
whipworms, and Giardia are all transmitted fecal-orally through the ingestion
of the eggs. The infested dog will pass
the eggs in his stool and then the next dog usually picks the eggs up on his
feet. Then, when he groom himself, he
ingests the eggs. The eggs then mature
into adult worms.

Tapeworms are
transmitted by the flea. Dogs typically
get tapeworms from biting at the fleas that are biting them. They accidentally ingest the flea, and the
immature stages of the tapeworm are released and mature into adult tapeworms. Cats often become infested with tapeworms by
eating a rodent (rat or mouse) that has fleas.

Most heartworm
medications also contain medication that will kill roundworms and hookworms. So, you are giving them a monthly heartworm
and intestinal worm treatment with each monthly dose.

Tapeworms are not
killed by most heartworm medications.
Also, most over-the-counter medication do not kill tapeworms. If you see evidence of your pet passing tapeworms,
it is important to make sure you are using a deworming medication that kills
them.

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